1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image outputting apparatus which outputs images on the basis of printing information input from a host, and particularly to an image outputting apparatus which outputs images on the basis of printing information input from a host in conformity with a command system memorized by a memory medium such as a cartridge.
2. Related Background Art
An apparatus of this type has heretofore been designed such that a character code and a control command output from a data supply source such as a host computer are given and received and the character code and the control command input analyzed to generate a character pattern which is an object to be printed, and the generated character pattern is developed, for example, into a frame buffer corresponding to one page and is output to the print driving circuit of a printer, whereby a desired character and an image can be output.
However, the control command system output from the data supply source such as the host computer is a command system inherent to each printer maker and therefore, usually, the printer of one maker cannot be made to function as the printer of another maker, and interchangeability is low and an improvement therein has been waited for.
For this reason, in apparatuses of this type, there has been put into practical use an emulation-corresponding printer in which when a command system inherent to a printer is the native command, there is carried an emulation program for processing the command of a command system differing from this native command so that a printing process conforming to the command of a discrete system can be executed.
However, usually in an image outputting apparatus for executing the printing process by an emulation mode of this kind, design is made such that an emulator program for executing said emulation mode is memorized by a cartridge type memory medium and image outputting in the emulation mode can be executed in accordance with the user's requirement, i.e., by the user inserting the cartridge into the mounting port of image outputting means, but usually the emulator program of one emulation mode is only memorized in said cartridge type memory medium and therefore, to enhance the printing interchangeability in the image outputting apparatus body, it has been necessary to buy a plurality of such cartridge type memory mediums and mount a cartridge type memory medium corresponding to each emulation mode each time.